tune of that knowne song beginning Preserue vs Lord. THee and thy wondrous deeds O God Wiâ—h all my soule I sound abroad verse 2 My ioy my triumph is in thee Of thy dread name my song shall be verse 3 O highest God since put to flight And fal'ne and vanisht at thy sight verse 4 Are all my foes for thou hast past Iust sentence on my cause at last And sitting on thy throne aboue A rightfull Iudge thy selfe doest proue verse 5 The troupes profane thy checks haue stroid And made their name for euer void verse 6 Where 's now my foes your threatned wrack So well you did our Cities sacke And bring to dust while that ye say Their name shall die as well as they verse 7 Loe in eternall state God sits And his high Throne to iustice fits verse 8 Whose righteous hand the world shall weeld And to all folke iust doome shall yeeld verse 9 The poore from high finde his releefe The poore in needfull times of griefe verse 10 Who knowes the Lord to thee shall cleaue That neuer doest thy clients leaue verse 11 Oh! sing the God that doth abide On Sion mount and blazon wide verse 12 His worthy deeds For he pursues The guiltlesse bloud with vengeance due He mindes their cause nor can passe o're Sad clamors of the wronged poore verse 13 Oh! mercy Lord thou that dost saue My soule from gates of death and graue Oh! see the wrong my foes haue done verse 14 That I thy praise to all that gone Through daughter Sions beauteous gate With thankfull songs may loud relate And may reioyce in thy safe aide Behold the Gentiles whiles they made A deadly pit my soule to drowne Into their pit are sunken downe In that close snare they hid for mee Loe their owne feet intangled be verse 16 By this iust doome the Lord is knowne That th' ill are punisht with their owne verse 17 Downe shall the wicked backward fall To deepest hell and nations all verse 18 That God forget nor shall the poore Forgotten be for euermore The constant hope of soules opprest verse 19 Shall not aye die Rise from thy rest Oh Lord let not men base and rude Preuaile iudge thou the multitude verse 20 Of lawlesse Pagans strike pale feare Into those brests that stubborne were And let the Gentiles feele and finde They beene but men of mortall kinde PSALME 10. As the 51. Psalme O God Consider WHy stand'st thou Lord aloofe so long And hidst thee in due times of need verse 2 Whiles lewd men proudly offer wrong Vnto the poore In their owne deed And their deuice let them be caught verse 3 For loe the wicked braues and boasts In his vile and outragious thought And blesseth him that rauines most verse 4 On God he dares insult his pride Scornes to enquire of powers aboue But his stout thoughts haue still deni'd verse 5 There is a God His waies yet proue 〈◊〉 prosperous thy iudgements hye Doe farre surmount his dimmer fight verse 6 Therefore doth he all foes defie His heart saith I shall stand in spight Nor euer moue nor danger ' bide verse 7 His mouth is fill'd with curses foule And with close fraud His tongue doth hide verse 8 Mischiefe and ill he seekes the soule Of harmelesse men in secret waite And in the corners of the street Doth shead their bloud with scorne and hate His eies vpon the poore are set verse 9 As some fell Lyon in his den He closely lurkes the poore to spoyle He spoyles the poore and helplesse men When once he snares them in his toyle verse 10 He croucheth low in cunning wile And bowes his brest whereon whole throngs Of poore whom his faire showes beguile Fall to be subiect to his wrongs verse 11 God hath forgot in soule he saies He hides his face to neuer see verse 12 Lord God arise thine hand vp-raise Let not thy poore forgotten be verse 13 Shall these insulting wretches scorne Their God and say thou wilt not care verse 14 Thou see'st for all thou hast forborne Thou see'st what all their mischiefes are That to thine hand of vengeance iust Thou maist them take the poore distressed Rely on thee with constant trust The helpe of Orphans and oppressed verse 15 Oh! breake the wickeds arme of might And search out all their cursed traines And let them vanish out of sight verse 16 The Lord as King for euer raignes From forth his coasts the heathen sect verse 17 Are rooted quite thou Lord attendst To poore mens sutes thou deo'st direct Their hearts to them thine eare thou bendst verse 18 That thou maist rescue from despight The wofull fatherlesse and poore That so the vaine and earthen wight On vs may tyrannize no more FJNJS CHARACTERS OF VERTVES AND VICES JN TWO BOOKES By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE MY singular good Lords EDWARD LORD DENNY BARON of WALTHAM AND JAMES LORD HAY HIS RIGHT NOBLE AND WORTHY SONNE IN LAW I. H. HVMBLY DEDICATES HIS LABOVR DEVOTETH HIMSELFE Wisheth all Happinesse A PREMONITION OF THE TITLE AND VSE of Characters READER THe Diuines of the old Heathens were their Morall Philosophers These receiued the Acts of an inbred law in the Sinai of Nature and deliuered them with many expositions to the multitude These were the Ouerseers of manners Correctors of vices Directors of liues Doctors of vertue which yet taught their people the body of their naturall Diuinitie not after one manner while some spent themselues in deepe discourses of humane felicitie and the way to it in common others thought it best to apply the generall precepts of goodnesse or decency to particular conditions and persons A third sort in a meane course betwixt the two other and compounded of them both bestowed their time in drawing out the true lineaments of euerie vertue and vice so liuely that who saw the medals might know the face which Art they significantly tearmed Charactery Their papers were so many tables their writings so many speaking pictures or liuing images whereby the ruder multitude might euen by their sense learne to know vertue and discerne what to detest J am deceiued if any course could be more likely to preuaile for herein the grosse conceit is led on with pleasure and informed while it feeles nothing but delight And if pictures haue beene accounted the bookes of Jdiots behold here the benefit of an image without the offence It is no shame for vs to learne wit of Heathens neither is it materiall in whose Schoole we take out a good lesson yea it is more shame not to follow their good than not to lead them better As one therefore that in worthy examples hold imitation better than inuention J haue trod in their paths but with an higher and wider steppe and out of their Tablets haue drawne these larger portraitures of both sorts More
of the sonnes of Anak the spirituall wickednesses in heauenly places If we looke at their number they are Legions If to their strength they are Principalities and Powers If to their nature they are spirits that rule in the aire We are men flesh and bloud single weake sinfull What euer we are our God is in heauen and doth whatsoeuer he will he is the Lord of Hosts though Cowards in our selues yet in him we are more than Conquerors he who is more than all power than All truth hath said it The Gates of Hell shall not preuaile against his Church Thanks be to God which giueth vs victory through our Lord Iesus Christ Lastly he is the Lord of hosts his vndertakings are infallible Hath he said that the glory of the Euangelicall Church shall exceed the Legall Hath he said that In this place he will giue peace How can the Church faile of glory or the soule of peace His word can be no more defectiue than himselfe impotent Trust God with his owne causes trust him with thy selfe doe that he bids expect what he promises haunt this House of his wait on his ordinances The Lord of Hosts shall giue thee that peace which passeth all vnderstanding and with peace glory in that vpper House of his not made with hands eternall in the Heauens To the possession whereof that God who hath ordained vs in his good time mercifully bring vs. And now O Lord God of Hosts make good thy promises to this House of thine Whensoeuer any Suppliant shall in this place offer vp his praiers vnto thee heare thou in Heauen thy dwelling place and when thou hearest haue mercy What Word soeuer of thine shall sound out of this place let it be the fauour of life vnto life to euery hearer What Sacrament soeuer of thine in this place shall be administred let it be effectuall to the saluation of euery receiuer Thou that art the God of glory and peace giue peace and glory to thy Seruants for thy mercies sake for thy Sonnes sake euen the Sonne of thy loue Iesus Christ the iust To whom with thee and the holy Ghost one infinite God be giuen all praise honour and thanksgiuing now and for euer TO THE WORSHIPFVLL AND REVEREND Mr. Dr. HALL DEANE OF WORCESTER my worthie and much respected Friend all happinesse with my loue in CHRIST IESVS REuerend Sir this Sermon I know is at the Presse before you expected But I thought as this glorious Chapell occasioned it so it might minister occasion of perpetuall remembrance of the Chapell by remaining its first Monument And altho both these were confined to the priuate the Chapell for the Family of my Right Honorable Lord the Earle of Exceter who hath giuen the materiall thereof sufficient luster and the Copie of the Sermon to the Cabinet of my truly Noble and vertuous Lady his Countesse yet both these are much and oft required to the publike the Sermon to be an instruction and so it is the Chapell to be an example and so it may be The Sermon to teach all to be all glorious in their soules The Chapell to teach some who build houses for their owne habitation to set vp another for Gods Religion The Sermon was craued at the hands of my Honourable Ladie that it might come to the Presse who of her owne pious disposition gaue forth the Copie and for her Noble esteeme of your selfe and of the worth of your sermon was willing and desirous to giue it way to the Printer And this I thought good to impart vnto you and to the courteous Reader that you may be satisfied of the meanes how and the cause why it comes in publike And so praying for you and desiring your prayers for me I remaine Your truly louing Friend H. BAGVLEY THE TRVE Peace-Maker LAID FORTH IN A SERMON BEFORE HIS MAIESTY AT THEOBALDS September 19. 1624. By IOS HALL SIC ELEVABITVR FILIVS HOMINIS Io 3. ANCHORA FIDEI LONDON Printed by IOHN HAVILAND for NATHANIEL BVTTER 1624. THE TRVE Peace-Maker ESAY 32.17 Opus Iustitiae pax The worke of Iustice or righteousnesse shall be peace MY Text you heare is of Iustice and peace two royall graces and such as flow from soueraigne Maiesty There is a double Iustice Diuine and humane there is a double peace outward in the state inward in the soule Accordingly there is a double sense of my Text a spirituall a ciuill sense The spirituall concerning Theologicall Iustice and inward peace The ciuill concerning humane iustice and outward peace The spirituall thus The Messias shall cause the fruit of his perfect iustice to be our inward peace with God and our selues The ciuill thus The Magistrate shall cause the worke of ciuill Iustice in his administration to be our outward peace with one another In both or either as Musculus well there is an allusion in the Hebrew word to a field the soile is the heart or the State the seed is Iustice the fruit peace That which was waste ground is now a Carmell a fruitfull field and the fruit of this field of Iustice is peace As there is good reason we will beginne with the spirituall Iustice and Peace The great King of Heauen will disforest that peece of the world which hee calls his Church and put it to tillage it shall be sowne with righteousnesse and shall yeeld a sweet crop of peace in this onely not in the barren heaths of the prophane world shall true peace grow At first God and man were good friends How should there bee other than good termes betwixt Heauen and Paradise God made man iust and iust man whiles he was so could not chuse but loue the iust God that made him sin set them at odds in one act and instant did man leese both his iustice and peace now the world is changed now the stile of God is Fortis vltor God the auenger Ier. 51.56 and the stile of men God the auenger The sonnes of wrath Filij irae sons of wrath Ephes 2.3 There is no possible peace to be made betwixt God man but by the perfect Iustice of him that was both God man I would there were a peace in the Church about this Iustice It is pitie shame there is not but there must be heresies As there are two parts of Diuinity the Law and the Gospell so each of these haue their Iustice there is a Iustice of the Law and an Euangelicall Iustice The Iustice of the Law when a meere morall man is iustified out of his owne powers by the works of the Law very Papists will giue so much way to S. Paul so much affront to Pelagius as to renounce this freely anathematizing that man who by the strength of humane nature or the doctrine of the Law shal challenge iustification Vnlesse perhaps some Andradius haue priuiledge to teach Morall righteousnesse that this Ethica Iustitia was enough to iustifie and saue the old Philosophers The Euangelicall Iustice is
All mouthes are boldly opened with a conceit of impunitie My eare shall bee no graue to burie my friends good name But as I will bee my present friends selfe So will I bee my absent friends deputie to say for him what he would and cannot speake for himselfe 70 The losse of my friend as it shall moderately grieue mee so it shall another way much benefit mee in recompence of his want for it shall make mee thinke more often and seriously of earth and of heauen Of earth for his body which is reposed in it Of Heauen for his soule which possesseth it before mee Of earth to put me in minde of my like frailtie and mortality Of Heauen to make me desire and after a sort emulate his happinesse and glory 71 Varietie of obiects is wont to cause distraction when againe a little one laid close to the eye if but of a peny breadth wholly takes vp the sight which could else see the whole halfe Heauen at once I will haue the eies of my minde euer fore-stalled and filled with those two obiects the shortnesse of my life eternity after death 72 I see that he is more happy that hath nothing to lose than he that loseth that which he hath I will therefore neither hope for riches nor feare pouerty 73 I care not so much in any thing for multitude as for choice Bookes and friends I will not haue many I had rather seriously conuerse with a few than wander amongst many 74 The wicked man is a very coward and is afraid of euery thing Of God because he is his enemy of Satan because he is his tormentor of Gods creatures because they ioyning with their Maker fight against him of himselfe because he beares about him his owne accuser and executioner The godly man contrarily is afraid of nothing Not of God because he knowes him his best friend and therefore will not hurt him not of Satan because he cannot hurt him not of afflictions because he knowes they proceed from a louing God and end to his owne good not of the creatures since the very stones of the field are in league with him not of himselfe since his conscience is at peace A wicked man may be secure because he knowes not what he hath to feare or desperate through extremitie of feare but truly couragious he cannot be Faithlesnesse cannot chuse but be false-hearted I will euer by my courage take triall of my faith By how much more I feare by so much lesse I beleeue 75 The godly man liues hardly and like the Ant toiles here during the Summer of his peace holding himselfe short of his pleasures as looking to prouide for an hard Winter Which when it comes he is able to weare it out comfortably whereas the wicked man doth prodigally lash out all his ioyes in the time of his prosperitie and like the Grashopper singing merrily all Summer is starued in Winter I will so enioy the present that I will lay vp more for hereafter 76 I haue wondred oft and blushed for shame to reade in meere Philosophers which had no other Mistresse but Nature such strange resolution in the contempt of both fortunes as they call them such notable precepts for a constant setlednesse and tranquillitie of minde and to compare it with my owne disposition and practice whom I haue found too much drouping and deiected vnder small crosses and easily againe caried away with little prosperitie To see such courage and strength to contemne death in those which thought they wholly perished in death and to finde such faint-heartednesse in my selfe at the first conceit of death who yet am thorowly perswaded of the future happinesse of my soule I haue the benefit of nature as well as they besides infinite other helps that they wanted Oh the dulnesse and blindnesse of vs vnworthy Christians that suffer Heathens by the dim candle-light of Nature to goe further than we by the cleere Sun of the Gospell that an indifferent man could not tell by our practice whether were the Pagan Let me neuer for shame account my selfe a Christian vnlesse my Art of Christianitie haue imitated and gone beyond nature so farre that I can finde the best Heathen as farre below me in true resolution as the vulgar sort were below them Else I may shame Religion it can neither honest nor helpe me 77 If I would be irreligious and vnconscionable I would make no doubt to be rich For if a man will defraud dissemble forsweare bribe oppresse serue the time make vse of all men for his owne turne make no scruple of any wicked action for his aduantage I cannot see how hee can escape wealth and preferment But for an vpright man to rise is difficult while his conscience straightly curbes him in from euery vniust action and will not allow him to aduance himselfe by indirect meanes So riches come seldome easily to a good man seldome hardly to the consciencelesse Happy is that man that can be rich with truth or poore with contentment I will not enuy the grauell in the vniust mans throat Of riches let mee neuer haue more than an honest man can beare away 78 God is the God of order not of confusion As therefore in naturall things he vseth to proceed from one extreme to another by degrees through the meane so doth hee in spirituall The Sun riseth not at once to his highest from the darknesse of midnight but first sends forth some feeble glimmering of light in the dawning then lookes out with weake and watrish beames and so by degrees ascends to the midst of heauen So in the seasons of the yeere we are not one day scorched with a Summer heat and on the next frozen with a sudden extremitie of cold But Winter comes on softly first by cold dewes then hoare frosts vntill at last it descend to the hardest weather of all such are Gods spirituall proceedings He neuer brings any man from the estate of sin to the estate of glory but through the estate of grace And as for grace he seldome brings a man from grosse wickednesse to any eminence of perfection I will be charitably iealous of those men which from notorious lewdnesse leape at once into a sudden forwardnesse of profession Holinesse doth not like Ionas gourd grow vp in a night I like it better to goe on soft and sure than for an hastie fit to runne my selfe out of winde and after stand still and breathe me 79 It hath beene said of old To doe well and heare ill is princely Which as it is most true by reason of the enuy which followes vpon iustice so is the contrary no lesse iustified by many experiments To doe ill and to heare well is the fashion of many great men To doe ill because they are borne out with the assurance of impunitie To heare well because of abundance of Parasites which as Rauens to a carkasse gather about great men Neither is there any so great misery in
their present feeling or their expectation both of them when they meet with weake mindes so extremely distempering them that the patient for the time is not himselfe How many haue we knowne which through a lingring disease weary of their paine weary of their liues haue made their owne hands their executioners How many meeting with a headstrong griefe which they could not manage haue by the violence of it beene carried quite from their wits How many millions what for incurable maladies what for losses what for defamations what for sad accidents to their children rub out their liues in perpetuall discontentment therefore liuing because they cannot yet die not for that they like to liue If there could be any humane receit prescribed to auoid euils it would bee purchased at an high rate but both it is impossible that earth should redresse that which is sent from Heauen and if it could be done euen the want of miseries would proue miserable for the minde cloyed with continuall felicity would grow a burden to it selfe loathing that at last which intermission would haue made pleasant Giue a free horse the full reynes and he will soone tire Summer is the sweetest season by all consents wherein the earth is both most rich with increase and most gorgeous for ornament yet if it were not receiued with interchanges of cold frosts and piercing windes who could liue Summer would be no Summer if Winter did not both lead it in and follow it we may not therefore either hope or striue to escape all crosses some we may what thou canst flie from what thou canst not allay and mitigate in crosses vniuersally let this be thy rule Make thy selfe none escape some beare the rest sweeten all SECT IX APprehension giues life to crosses and if some be simply Of crosses that arise from conceit most are as they are taken I haue seene many which when God hath meant them no hurt haue framed themselues crosses out of imagination and haue found that insupportable for weight which in truth neuer was neither had euer any but a fancied being Others againe laughing out heauie afflictions for which they were bemoaned of the beholders One receiues a deadly wound and lookes not so much as pale at the smart another heares of many losses and like Zeno after newes of his shipwracke as altogether passion-lesse goes to his rest not breaking an houres sleepe for that which would breake the heart of some others Greenham that Saint of ours whom it cannot disparage that he was reserued for our so loose an age can lie spread quietly vpon the forme looking for the Chirurgians knife binding himselfe as fast with a resolued patience as others with strongest cords abiding his flesh carued and his bowels rifled and not stirring more than if he felt not while others tremble to expect and shrinke to feele but the pricking of a veyne There can be no remedie for imaginary crosses but wisdome which shall teach vs to esteeme of all euents as they are like a true glasse representing all things to our mindes in their due proportion So as crosses may not seeme that are not nor little and gentle ones seeme great and intolerable Giue thy body Ellebore thy minde good counsell thine eare to thy friend and these fantasticall euills shall vanish away like themselues SECT X. IT were idle aduice to bid men auoid euils Of true and reall crosses Nature hath by a secret instinct taught brute creatures so much whether wit or sagacity and our selfe-loue making the best aduantage of reason will easily make vs so wise and carefull It is more worth our labour since our life is so open to calamities and nature to impatience to teach men to beare what euills they cannot auoid and how by a well-disposednesse of minde we may correct the iniquitie of all hard euents Wherein it is hardly credible how much good Art and precepts of resolution may auaile vs. I haue seene one man by the helpe of a little engine lift vp that weight alone which forty helping hands by their cleare strength might haue endeuoured in vaine Wee liue here in an Ocean of troubles wherein we can see no firme land one waue falling vpon another ere the former haue wrought all his spight Mischiefes striue for places as if they feared to lose their roome if they hasted not So many good things as we haue so many euills arise from their priuation besides no fewer reall and positiue euills that afflict vs. To prescribe and apply receits to euery particular crosse were to write a Saâ—meron-like commentary vpon Petrarchs remedies and I doubt whether so the worke would be perfect a life would be too little to write it and but enough to reade it SECT XI The first remedy of crosses before they come THe same medicines cannot helpe all diseases of the body of the soule they may Wee see Fencers giue their schollers the same common rules of position of warding and weilding their weapon for offence for defence against all commers such vniuersall precepts there are for crosses In the first whereof I would prescribe Expectation that either killeth or abateth euills For Crosses after the nature of the Cockatrice die it they be foreseene whether this prouidence makes vs more strong to resist or by some secret power makes them more vnable to assault vs. It is not credible what a fore-resolued minde can doe can suffer Could our English Milo of whom Spaine yet speaketh since their last peace haue ouerthrowne that furious Beast made now more violent through the rage of his baiting if he had not setled himselfe in his station and expected The frighted multitude ran away from that ouer-earnest sport which begun in pleasure ended in terrour If he had turned his backe with the rest where had beene his safety where his glory and reward Now he stood still expected ouercame by one fact he at once preserued honoured enriched himselfe Euills will come neuer the sooner for that thou lookest for them they will come the easier it is a labour well lost if they come not and well bestowed if they doe come We are sure the worst may come why should wee bee secure that it will not Suddennesse findes weake mindes secure makes them miserable leaues them desperate The best way therefore is to make things present in conceit before they come that they may be halfe past in their violence when they doe come euen as with woodden wasters we learne to play at the sharp As therefore good Souldiers exercise themselues long at the pale and there vse those actiuities which afterwards they shall practise vpon a true aduersarie so must we present to our selues imaginary crosses and manage them in our minde before God sends them in euent Now I eat sleepe digest all soundly without complaint what if a languishing disease should bereaue me of my appetite and rest that I should see dainties and loath them surfetting of the very smell of
sinnes be not attributed to them Thirdly That the Church bee not troubled with their multitude Aug. Epist 86. In his enim rebus de quibus nihil certâ— statuiâ— Scriptura Diuina mos populi Dei vel instituta matorum pro lege tuâ—â—da sunt Liuius Dcca l. 4 Nulla lex sâ—tis â—â—â—moda omnibus est id modo quaeritâ—â— si matorâ— partâ— in suâ—â—â—ma proâ—est Fourthly that they be not decreed as necessarie and not to be changed And lastly that men be not so tied to them but that by occasion they may bee omitted so it be without offence and contempt you see our limits but your feare is in this last contrary to his He stands vpon offence in omitting you in vsing As if it were a iust offence to displease a beholder no offence to displease and violate authoritie What Law could euer be made to offend none Wise Cato might haue taught you this in Liuie that no Law can bee commodious to all Those lips which preserue knowledge must impart so much of it to their hearers as to preuent their offence Neither must Law-giuers euer foresee what constructions will be of their Lawes but what ought to bee Those things which your Consistory imposes may you keepe them if you list Is not the willing neglect of your owne Parlour-Decrees punished with Excommunication And now what is all this to infallibility The sacred Synod determines these indifferent Rites for decencie and comlinesse to be vsed of those whom it concernes therefore it arrogates to it selfe infallibilitie A conclusion fit for a Separatist Cum consedissent sancti â—cligiosi Episcopi â—in Tom. 1. p. 239. Sancta Synod Câ—rthagi 4. sub Anastasio 553. Sancta Pacifica Synod Antiochen 1. p. â—20 Sancta Dei Apostolica Synodus 413. Peruenit ad Sanctam Synodum Can. Nic. 18 309. Sancta Synod Laodâ—ccoâ— 288. You stumble at the Title of Sacred euery straw lies in your way your Calepine could haue taught you that Houses Castles Religious businesses old age it selfe haue this stile giuen them And Virgil vittasque resoluit Sacrati capitis no Epithere is more ordinary to Councells and Synods The reason whereof may be fetched from that Inscription of the Elibertine Synod of those nineteene Bishops is said When the holy and Religious Bishops were set How few Councels haue not had this Title To omit the late The Holy Synod of Carthage vnder Anastasius The Holy and peaceable Synod at Antioch The Holy Synod of God and Apostolicall at Rome vnder Iulius The Holy and great Synod at Nice and not to bee endlesse The Holy Synod of Laodicea though but prouinciall What doe these Idle exceptions argue but want of greater SEP To let passe your Ecclesiasticall Consistories wherein sinnes and absolutions from them are as veniall and saleable as at Rome Is it not a Law of the Eternall God that the Ministers of the Gospell the Bishops or Elders should bee apt and able to teach 1 Timoth. 3.2 Titus 1.9 and is it not their grieuous sinne to bee vnapt hereunto Esa 56.10 11. And yet who knoweth not that the Patrons amongst you present that the Bishops institute the Archdeacons induct the Churches receiue and the Lawes both Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall allow and iustifie Ministers vnapt and vnable to teach Is it not a Law of the Eternall God that the Elders should feed the stock ouer which they are set labouring amongst them in the Word and Doctrine Acts 20.28 1 Pet. 5.1 2. And is it not sin to omit this duty Plead not for Baall Your Dispensations for Non-residencie and Pluralities of Benefices as for two three or more yea tot quot as many as a man will haue or can get are so many Dispensations with the Lawes of God and sinnes of men These things are too impious to bee defended and too manifest to bee denied SECTION XXXIII SOME great men when they haue done ill out-face their shame with enacting Lawes to make their sins lawfull While you thus charge our practise Sinnes fold in our Courts you bewray your owne Who hauing separated from Gods Church deuise slanders to colour your sinne Wee must bee shamfull that you may bee innocent You load our Ecclesiasticall Consistories with a shamelesse reproach Farre bee it from vs to iustifie any mans personall sinnes yet it is safer sinning to the better part Fie on these odious comparisons sinnes as saleable as at Rome Who knowes not that to be the Marâ— of all the World Periuries Murders Treasons are there bought and sold when euer in ours The Popes coffers can easily confute you alone What tell you vs of these let me tell you Mony is as fit an aduocate in a Consistorie as fauour or malice These some of yours haue complained of as bitterly as you of ours As if we liked the abuses in Courts G. Iohns Trouble and Excommunications at Amsterdam as if corrupt executions of wholesom Lawes must bee imputed to the Church whose wrongs they are No lesse hainous nor more true in that which followeth True Elders not yours should be indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This wee call for as vehemently not so tumultuously as yourselues That they should feed their Flockes with Word and Doctrine we require more than you That Patrons present Bishops institute Arch-Deacons induct some which are unable we grant and bewaile But that our Church-Lawes iustifie them wee deny and you slander For our Law if you know not requires that euery one to bee admitted to the Ministery should vnderstand the Articles of Religion Can. 34. not only as they are compendiously set downe in the Creed but as they are at large in our Booke of Articles neither vnderstand them onely but be able to proue them sufficiently out of the Scripture and that not in English onely but in Latine also This competencie would proue him for knowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If this bee not performed blame the persons cleere the Law Profound Master Hooker tels you that both Arguments from light of Nature Lawes and Statutes of Scripture the Canons that are taken out of ancient Synods M. Hookers fift booke of Ecclesiasticall Politic. Pag. 26.3 the Decrees and Constitutions of sincerest times the sentences of all antiquity and in a word euery mans full consent and conscience is against ignorance in them that haue charge and cure of soules And in the same booke Did any thing more aggrauate the crime of Ieroboams Apostasie than that he chose to haue his Clergie the scumme and refuse of his whole Land Let no man spare to tell it them D. Dâ—wnâ—m of the office and dignitie of the Ministery Counterpoys pag. 179. Dist 34. Can. Lector Papa potest contra Apostolum dispensare Caus 25. q. 1. Can. sunt quidaÌ„ Dispensat in Euangelio c. De concess praebend Tit. 8. Ca. they are not faithfull towards God that burden wilfully his Church with such swarmes of vnworthy Creatures Neither is
it is not wealth alone that is accessary to this pride there are some that with the Cynicke or that worse dogge the patcht Cistertian are proud of rags there are others that are rich of nothing but cloathes somewhat like to Naziavâ—cus country of Ozizala that abounded in flowers but was barren of come their cloaths are more worth then all the rest as wee vse to say of the Elder that the flower of it is more worth then all the tree besides but if there be any other causes of our hye-mindednesse wealth is one which doth ordinarily lift vp our heads aboue ourselues aboue others and if there be here any of these empty bladders that are puft vp with the wind of conceit giue me leaue to prick them a little and first let mee tell them they may haue much and be neuer the better The chimny ouer lookes all the rest of the house is it not for all that the very basest piece of the building The very heathen man could obserue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Arist That God giues many a man wealth for their greater mischiefe As the Israelites were rich in Quailes but their fawce was such that famine had beene better little cause had they to be proud that they were fed with meate of Princes with the bread of Angels whiles that which they put into their mouthes God fetcht out of their nostrels Haman was proud that he alone was called to the honour of Esters feast this aduancement raised him fifty cubits higher to a stately gibbet If your wealth be to any of you an occasion of fallingâ— if your gold be turned into fetters it had beene better for you to haue liued beggers Let me tell them next of the folly of this pride They are proud of that which is none of theirs That which law and case-diuinity speakes of life that man is not dominus vitae suae sed custos is as true of wealth Senec. Nature can tell him in the Philosopher that hee is not Dominus but Colonus not the Lord but the Farmer It is a iust obseruation of Philo that God onely by a propriety is stiled the possessor of heauen and earth by Melchisedech in his speech to Abraham Gen. 24. we are onely the tenants and that at the will of the Lord At the most if we will as Diuines we haue jus adrem not dominium in rem right to these earthly things not Lordship ouer them but right of fauour from their proprietary and Lord in heauen and that liable to an account Doe we not laugh at the groome that is proud of his masters horse or some vaine whiffler that is proud of a borrowed chaine So ridiculous are we to be puft vp with that whereof we must needs say with the poore man of the hatchet Alas master it is but borrowed and whereof our account shall be so much more great and difficult as our receit is more Hath God therefore laded you with these earthly riches be ye like vnto the full eare of corne hang downe your heads in true humility towards that earth from which you came And it your stalke be so stiffe that it beares vp aboue the rest of your ridge looke vp to heaueh not in the thoughts of pride but in the humble vowes of thankfulnesse and be not hie-minded but feare Hitherto of the hye-mindednesse that followes wealth Now where our pride is And that they trust not there will be our confidence As the wealthy therefore may not be proud of their riches so they may not trust in them What is this trust but the setting of our hearts vpon them the placing of our ioy and contentment in them in a word the making of them our best friend our patron our idoll our god This the true and ielous God cannot abide and yet nothing is more ordinary The rich mans wealth is his strong City saith Salomonâ— where should a man thinke himselfe safe but in his sort He sees Mammon can doe so much and heares him talke of doing so much more it is no maruell if hee yeeld to trust him Mammon is so proud a boaster that his clients which beleeue in him cannot chuse but be â—onfident of him For what doth he not brag to doe Siluer answers to all saith Salomon That we grant although we would be loath it could answer to truth to iustice to iudgement But yet more he vaunts to procure all to pacifie all to conquer all He saies he can procure all secular offices titles dignities yea I would I might not â—ay in some sacrilegious and periured wretches the sacred promotions of the Church and ye know that old song of the Pope and his Romane trafficke Claues Altariâ— Christum Yea foolish Magus makes full account Keyes Altars Christ the Holy Ghost himselfe may be had for money He sayes he can pacifie all A gift in the bosome appeases wrath yea he sayes looke to it ye that sit in the seats of iudicature hee can sometimes bribe off sinnes and peruert iudgement He sayes hee can ouercome all according to the old Greeke verse Fight with siluer launces and you cannot faile of victory yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. he would make vs beleeue he thought this a bait to catch the Sonne of God himselfe withall All these will I giue thee briefly hee sayes according to the French Prouerbe Siluer does all And let me tell you indeed what Mammon can doe Hee can barre the gates of hell to the vnconscionable soule and helpe his followers to damnation This he can do but for other things howsoeuer with vs men the foolish Siluer-smiths may shout out Great is Mammon of the worldlings yet if we weigh his power aright we shall conclude of Mammon as Paracelsus doth of the Diuell that he is a base and beggerly spirit For what I beseech you can he doe Can he make a man honest can he make him wise can he make him healthfull Can he giue a man to liue more merily to feed more heartily to sleepe more quietly Can we buy off the gout cares death much lesse the paines of another vvorld nay doth he not bring all these Goe to then thou rich man God is offended with thee and meanes to plague thee with disease death Now try what thy bags can doe Begin first vvith God and see whether thou canst bribe him with thy gifts Micah 6. and buy off his displeasure Wherewith shalt thou come before the Lord and bow thy selfe before the high God Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousand riuers of oyle The siluer is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of hosts Haggai 2. If that speed not goe to the fergeant of God death see if thou canst fee him not to arrest thee He lookes thee sternely in the face and tels thee vvith Ehud he hath a message to thee from God
had beene too abominable to imagine vnnaturall Continuance and society in euill makes wicked men outrageous and impudent It is not enough for Lot to bee the Witnesse but he must be the Bawd also Bring forth these men that we may know them Behold euen the Sodomites speake modestly though their acts and intents be villanous What a shame is it for those which professe purity of heart to speake filthily The good man craues and pleads the lawes of hospitalitie and when hee sees head-strong purposes of mischiefe chooses rather to bee an ill Father then an ill host His intention was good but his offer was faulty If through his allowance the Sodomites had defiled his daughters it had been his sinne If through violence they had defiled his ghests it had been onely theirs There can be no warrant for vs to sinne lest others should sinne It is for God to preuent sinnes with iudgements it is not for men to preuent a greater sinne with a lesse the best mindes when they are troubled yeeld inconsiderate motions as water that is violently stirred sends vp bubbles God meant better to Lot then to suffer his weake offer to be accepted Those which are bent vpon villany are more exasperated by disswasion as some strong streames when they are resisted by flood-gates swell ouer the bankes Many a one is hardned by the good vvord of God and in stead of receiuing the counsell rages at the messenger When men are growne to that passe that they are no whit better by afflictions and worse with admonitions God findes it time to strike Now Lots ghests begin to shew themselues Angels and first deliuer Lot in Sodom then from Sodom First strike them with blindnesse whom they will after consume vvith fire How little did the Sodomites thinke that vengeance vvas so neere them While they went groping in the streets and cursing those whom they could not find Lot with the Angels is in secure light and sees them miserable and fore-sees them burning It is the vse of God to blind and besot those whom hee meanes to destroy The light which they shall see shall be fierie which shall be the beginning of an euerlasting darknesse and a fire vnquenchable Now they haue done sinning and God begins to iudge Wickednesse hath but a time the punishment of wickednesse is beyond all time The residue of the night was both short and dangerous Yet good Lot though sought for by the Sodomites and newly pull'd into his house by the Angels goes forth of his house to seeke his sonnes in law No good man would bee saued alone faith makes vs charitable with neglect of all perill Hee warnes them like a Prophet and aduises them like a Father but both in vaine hee seemes to them as if he mocked and they doe more then seeme to mock him againe Why should to morrow differ from other dayes Who euer saw it raine fire Or whence should that brimstone come Or if such showres must fall how shall nothing burne but this Valley So to carnall men preaching is foolishnesse deuotion idlenesse the Prophets mad-men Paul a babler These mens incredulitie is as worthy of the fire as the others vncleannesse He that beleeues not is condemned already The messengers of God do not onely hasten Lot but pull him by a gracious violence out of that impure Citie They thirsted at once after vengeance vpon Sodom and Lots safety they knew God could not strike Sodom till Lot were gone out and that Lot could not be safe within those walls Wee are all naturally in Sodom if God did not hale vs out whiles wee linger wee should be condemned with the world If God meet with a very good field hee puls vp the weeds and lets the corne grow if indifferent he lets the corne and weeds grow together if very ill he gathers the few eares of corne and burnes the weeds Oh the large bounty of God which reacheth not to vs onely but to ours God saues Lot for Abrahams sake and Zoar for Lots sake If Sodom had not beene too vvicked it had escaped Were it not for Gods deare children that are intermixed vvith the world it could not stand The wicked owe their liues vnto those few good vvhom they hate and persecute Now at once the Sunne rises vpon Zoar and fire falls downe vpon Sodom Abraham stands vpon the hill and sees the Cities burning It is faire weather with Gods children vvhen it is foulest with the vvicked Those which burned with the fire of lust are now consumed vvith the fire of vengeance They sinned against nature and now against the course of nature fire descends from Heauen and consumes them Lot may not so much as looke at the flame whether for the stâ—y of his passage or the horror of the sight or tryall of his faith or feare of commiseration Small precepts from God are of importance obedience is as well tryed and disobedience as well punished in little as in much His wife doth but turne backe her head whether in curiositie or vnbeliefe or loue and compassion of the place shee is turned into a monument of disobedience vvhat doth it auaile her not to be turned into ashes in Sodom when she is turned into a pillar of Salt in the Plaine He that saued a whole Citie cannot saue his owne Wife God cannot abide small sinnes in those vvhom hee hath obliged If we displease him God can as vvell meet vvith vs out of Sodom Lot now comne into Zoar maruels at the stay of her vvhom hee might not before looke backe to call and soone after returning to seeke her beholds this change with wonder and griefe He finds Salt in stead of flesh a Pillar in stead of a Wife he findes Sodome consumed and her standing and is more amazed vvith this by how much it was both more neere him and lesse expected When God deliuers vs from destruction he doth not secure vs from all afflictions Lot hath lost his Wise his allies his substance and now betakes himselfe to an vncomfortable solitarinesse Yet though he fled from company he could not fly from sinne He who could not be tainted vvith vncleannesse in Sodom is ouertaken with drunkennesse and incest in a Caue Rather then Satan shall not vvant baits his owne daughters will proue Sodomites Those vvhich should haue comforted betrayed him How little are some hearts moued vvith iudgements The ashes of Sodom and the Pillar of Salt vvere not yet out of their eye vvhen they dare thinke of lying with their owne Father They knew that vvhilest Lot vvas sober he could not be vnchaste Drunkennesse is the way to all beastiall affections and acts Wine knowes no difference either of persons or sins No doubt Lot vvas afterwards ashamed of his incestuous Seed and now wished he had come alone out of Sodom yet euen this vnnaturall bed was blessed vvith increase and one of our Sauiours worthy Ancestors sprung after from this line Gods election is not tyed to our
meanes neither are blessings or curses euer traduced The chaste bed of holy Parents hath ofttimes bred a monstrous generation and contrarily God hath raised sometimes an holy Seed from the drunken bed of Incest or Fornication It hath been seene that vveightie eares of corne haue growne out of the compasse of the tilled field Thus vvill God magnifie the freedome of his owne choyce and let vs know that wee are not borne but made good Contemplations THE THIRD BOOKE Iacob and Esau Iacob and Laban Dinah Iudah and Thamar Ioseph BY IOS HALL D. of Diuinitie and Deane of WORCESTER LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE THE LORD DENNY BARON OF WALTHAM MY SINGVLAR GOOD PATRON All Grace and Happinesse RIght Honourable I Know and in all humility confesse how weake my Discourse is and how vnworthy of this diuine subiect which J haue vndertaken which if an Angell from Heauen should say hee could sufficiently comment vpon J should distrust him Yet this let me say without any vaine boasting that these thoughts such as they are through the blessing of GOD J haue wouen out of my selfe as holding it after our Sauiours rule better to giue than to receiue It is easier to heape together large volumes of others labours then to worke out lesser of our owne and the suggestion of one new thought is better then many repeated This part which together with the Author is yours shall present to your Lordship the busiest of all the Patriarks together with his tryalls and successe wherein you shall see Esau stripped by fraud of that which he willingly sold Iacobs hard aduentures for the blessing and no lesse hard seruices for his wiues and substance his dangerous encounters ending ioyfully the raâ—e of his onely daughter seconded with the trecherous murder of his sonnes Iudahs wrong to Thamar repayed by his owne vncleannesse Iosephs sale imprisonment honour pietie The sinne of his brethren well bestowed well answered J so touch at the vses of all these as one that knowes it is easie to say more and impossible to say enough GOD giue a blessing to my endeuours and a pardon to my weakenesse to your Lordship an encrease of his graces and perfection of all happinesse Your Lordships humbly and officiously deuoted in all dutie IOS HALL Contemplations THE THIRD BOOKE Of IACOB and ESAV OF all the Patriarkes none made so little noyse in the World as Isaac none liued either so priuately or so innocently Neither know I whether hee approued himselfe a better sonne or an Husband For the one he gaue himselfe ouer to the knife of his Father and mourned three yeeres for his Mother for the other he sought not to any handmaids bed but in a chast forbearance reserued himselfe for twenty yeeres space and prayed Rebecca was so long barren his prayers proued more effectuall then his seed At last she conceiued as if shee had beene more then the daughter in law to Sarah whose sonne was giuen her not out of the power of Nature but of her husbands Faith God is oft better to vs then we would Isaac prayes for a sonne God giues him two at once Now shee is no lesse troubled with the strife of the children in her wombe then before with the want of children we know not when we are pleased that which we desire oft-times discontents vs more in the fruition wee are ready to complaine both full and fasting Before Rebecca conceiued she was at ease Before spirituall regeneration there is all peace in the soule No sooner is the new man formed in vs but the flesh conflicts with the spirit There is no grace where is no vnquietnesse Esau alone would not haue striuen Nature will euer agree with it selfe Neuer any Rebecca conceiued onely an Esau or was so happy as to conceiue none but a Iacob She must be the mother of both that she may haue both ioy and exercise This strife began early Euery true Israelite begins his warre with his being How many actions which we know not of are not without presage and signification These two were the champions of two Nations the field was their mothers wombe their quarrell precedency superiority Esau got the right of Nature Iacob of grace yet that there might be some pretence of equality lest Esau should out-run his brother into the World Iacob holds him fast by the heele So his hand was borne before the others foot But because Esau is some minutes the elder that the younger might haue better claime to that which God had promised he buies that which he could not winn If either by strife or purchase or suite we can attaine spirituall blessings we are happy If Iacob had come forth first he had not knowne how much he was bound to God for the fauour of his aduancement There was neuer any meat except the forbidden fruit so deare bought as this broth of Iacob In both the receiuer and the Eater is accursed Euery true sonne of Israel will bee content to purchase spirituall fauours with earthly And that man hath in him too much of the blood of Esau which will not rather dye then forgoe his birth-right But what hath carelesse Esau lost if hauing sold his birth-right he may obtaine the blessing Or what hath Iacob gained if his brothers Venison may counteruaile his Pottage Yet thus hath old Isaac decreed who was now not more blind in his eyes then in his affections God had forewarned him that the elder should serue the yonger yet Isaac goes about to blesse Esau It was not so hard for Abraham to reconcile Gods promise and Isaacs sacrifice as for Isaac to reconcile the superiority of Iacob with Esaus benediction for Gods hand was in that in this none but his owne The dearest of Gods Saints haue beene sometimes transported with naturall affections He saw himselfe preferred to Ismael though the elder he saw his father wilfully forgetting nature at Gods command in binding him for sacrifice He saw Esau lewly matched with Heathens and yet he will remember nothing but Esau is my first borne But how gracious is God that when we would will not let vs sinne And so orders our actions that wee doe not what we will but what we ought That God which had ordained the Lordship to the yonger will also contriue for him the blessing what he will haue effected shall not want meanes the Mother shall rather defeat the Sonne and beguile the Father then the Father shall beguile the chosen sonne of his blessing What was Iacob to Rebecca more then Esau or what Mother doth not more affect the elder But now God inclines the loue of the Mother to the yonger against the custome of nature because the father loues the elder against the promise The affections of the Parents are diuided that the promise might be fulfilled Rebeccaes craft shall answer Isaacs partiality Isaac would vniustly turne Esau into Iocob Rebecca doth as cunningly turne
loue to Sechem sinister respects draw more to the profession of Religion then conscience if it were not for the loaues and fishes the traine of Christ would bee lesse But the Sacraments of God mis-receiued neuer prosper in the end These men are content to smart so they may gaine And now that euery man lyes sore of his owne wound Simeon and Leui rush in armed and wound all the males to death Cursed be their wrath for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruell Indeed filthinesse should not haue beene wrought by Israel yet murder should not haue beene wrought by Israel if they had beene fit Iudges which were but bloody executioners how far doth the punishment exceed the fault To punish aboue the offence is no lesse iniustice then to offend one offendeth and all feele the reuenge yea all though innocent suffer that reuenge which he that offended deserued not Sechem sinneth but Dinah tempted him She that was so light as to wander abroad alone only to gaze I feare was not ouer-difficult to yeeld And if hauing wrought her shame he had driuen her home with disgrace to her Fathers tent such tyrannous lust had iustly called for blood but now hee craues and offers and would pay deare for but leaue to giue satisfaction To execute rigour vpon a submisse offender is more mercilesse than iust Or if the punishment had bin both iust and proportionable from another yet from them which had vowed peace and affinitie it was shamefully vniust To disappoint the trust of another and to neglect our owne promise and fidelity for priuate purposes adds faithlesnesse vnto our cruelty That they were impotent it was through their circumcision what impiety was this in stead of honouring an holy signe to take an aduantage by it What shrieking was there now in the streets of the City of the Hiuites And how did the beguiled Sichemits when they saw the swords of the two brethren die cursing that Sacrament in their hearts which had betrayed them Euen their curses were the sins of Simeon and Leui whose fact though it were abhorred by their Father yet it was seconded by their brethren Their spoile makes good the others slaughter Who would haue looked to haue found this out-rage in the family of Iacob How did that good Patriarke when he saw Dinah come home blubbered and wringing her hands Simeon and Leui sprinkled with blood wish that Leah had beene barren as long as Rachel Good Parents haue griefe enough though they sustaine no blame for their childrens sins What great euills arise from small beginnings The idle curiosity of Dinah hath bred all this mischiefe Rauishment followes vpon her wandring vpon her rauishment murder vpon the murder spoyle It is holy and safe to bee iealous of the first occasions of euill either done or suffered Of IVDAH and THAMAR I Find not many of Iacobs sonnes more faultie then Iudah who yet is singled out from all the rest to be the royall Progenitor of Christ and to be honoured with the dignity of the birth-right that Gods election might not bee of merit but of grace Else howsoeuer he might haue sped alone Thamar had neuer beene ioyned with him in this line Euen Iudah marries a Canaanite it is no maruell though his Seed prosper not And yet that good children may not be too much discouraged with their vnlawfull propagation the Fathers of the promised Seed are raised from an incestuous bed Iudah was very yong scarce frō vnder the rod of his Father yet he takes no other counsell for his mariage but from his own eyes which were like his sister Dinahs rouing and wanton what better issue could be expected from such beginnings Those proud Iewes that glory so much of their Pedigree and Name from this Patriarke may now choose whether they will haue their mother a Canaanite or an Harlot Euen in these things oft-times the birth followes the belly His eldest sonne Er is too wicked to liue God strikes him dead ere he can leaue any issue not abiding any siens to grow out of so bad a stocke Notorious sinners God reserues to his owne vengeance He doth not inflict sensible iudgements vpon all his enemies lest the wicked should thinke there were no punishment abiding for them else-where Hee doth inflict such iudgements vpon some lest he should seeme carelesse of euill It were as easie for him to strike all dead as one but hee had rather all should be warned by one and would haue his enemies find him mercifull as his children iust His brother Onan sees the iudgment and yet followes his sins Euery little thing discourages vs from good Nothing can alter the heart that is set vpon euill Er was not worthy of any loue but though he were a miscreant yet he was a brother Seed should haue been raised to him Onan iustly leeses his life with his Seed which he would rather spill then lend to a wicked brother Some duties we owe to humanity more to neerenesse of blood Ill deseruings of others can be no excuse for our iniustice for our vncharitablenesse That which Thamar required Moses afterward as from God commanded the succession of brothers into the barren bed Some lawes God spake to his Church long ere he wrote them while the author is certainly knowne the voyce and the finger of God are worthy of equall respect Iudah hath lost two sonnes and now doth but promise the third whom he sinnes in not giuing It is the weaknesse of nature rather to hazard a sin then a danger and to neglect our owne duty for wrongfull suspition of others though he had lost his son in giuing him yet he should haue giuen him A faithful mans promise is his debt which no feare of damage can dispense with But whereupon was this slacknesse Iudah feared that some vnhappinesse in the bed of Thamar was the cause of his sonnes miscariage whereas it was their fault that Thamar vvas both a widow and childlesse Those that are but the patients of euill are many times burdened with suspitions and therefore are ill thought of because they fare ill Afflictions would not bee so heauy if they did not lay vs open vnto vncharitable conceits What difference God puts betwixt sinnes of wilfulnesse and infirmitie The pollution is punished with present death the fathers incest is pardoned and in a sort prospereth Now Thamar seekes by subtlety that which she could not haue by award of iustice the neglect of due retributions driues men to indirect courses neither know I whether they sin more in righting themselues wrongfully or the other in not righting them She therefore takes vpon her the habit of an harlot that she might performe the act If she had not wished to seeme an Whore she had not worn that attire nor chosen that place Immodesty of outward fashion or gesture bewraies euill desires the heart that meanes well will neuer wish to seeme ill for commonly we affect to shew better then we are
at least These headlong euils as they are the forest so they must be most prouided for as on the contrary a sudden aduancement from a low condition to the height of Honour is most hard to manage No man can maruell how that Tyrant blinded his Captiues when he heares that he brought them immediately out of a darke dungeon into Roomes that vvere made bright and glorious Wee are not worthy to know for what wee are reserued no euill can amate vs if we can ouercome sudden extremities The long deferring of a good though tedious yet makes it the better when it comes Well did the Israelites hope that the Waters which were so long inifinding would be precious when they were found Yet behold they are crossed not onely in their desires but in their hopes for after three dayes trauell the first Fountaines they finde are bitter Waters If these Wels had not runne pure Gall they could not haue so much complained Long thirst will make bitter Waters sweet yet such were these Springs that the Israelites did not so much like their moisture as abhorre their relish I see the first handsell that God giues them in their voyage to the Land of Promise Thirst and bitternesse Satan giues vs pleasant entrances into his wayes and reserues the bitternesse for the end God inuites vs to our worst at first and sweetens our conclusion with pleasure The same God that would not lead Israel through the Philistims Land lest they should shrinke at the sight of Warre now leads them through the Wildernesse and feares not to try their patience with bitter potions If hee had not loued them the Aegyptian Furnace or Sword had preuented their thirst or that Sea whereof their Enemies drunke dead and yet see how hee dyets them Neuer any haue had so bitter draughts vpon Earth as those be loues best The palate is an ill iudge of the fauours of God O my Sauiour thou didst drinke a more bitter Cup from the hands of thy Father then that which thou refusedst of the Iewes or then that which I can drinke from thee Before they could not drinke if they would now they might and would not God can giue vs blessings with such a tang that the fruition shall not much differ from the want So many a one hath riches not grace to vse them many haue children but such as they prefer barrennesse They had said before Oh that wee had water now Oh that we had good water It is good so to desire blessings from God that we may be the better for inioying them so to craue water that it may not be sawced with bitternesse Now these fond Israelites in stead of praying murmur in stead of praying to God murmur against Moses What hath the righteous done Hee made not either the Wildernesse dry or the Waters bitter Yea if his conduct were the matter what one foot went he before them without God The Pillar led them and not he yet Moses is murmured at It is the hard condition of authoritie that when the multitude fare well they applaud themselues when ill they repine against their Gouernours Who can hope to be free if Moses escape not Neuer any Prince so merited of a people Hee thrust himselfe vpon the Pikes of Pharaohs tyrannie Hee brought them from a bondage worse then death His Rod diuided the Sea and shared life to them death to their Pursuers Who would not haue thought these men so obliged to Moses that no death could haue opened their mouthes or raised their hands against him Yet now the first occasion of want makes them rebell No benefit can stop the mouth of Impatience If our turne be not serued for the present former fauours are either forgotten or contemned No maruell if we deale so with men when God receiues this measure from vs. One yeere of Famine One Summer of Pestilence One Moone of vnseasonable weather makes vs ouer-looke all the blessings of God and more to mutine at the sense of our euill then to praise him for our varieties of good whereas fauours well bestowed leaue vs both mindfull and confident and will not suffer vs either to forget or distrust O God I haue made an ill vse of thy mercies if I haue not learned to be content with thy corrections Moses was in the same want of water with them in the same distaste of bitternesse and yet they say to Moses What shall we drinke If they had seene him furnished with full vessels of sweet water and themselues put ouer to this vnsauoury liquor enuie might haue giuen some colour to this mutiny but now their Leaders common miserie might haue freed him from their murmurs They held it one piece of the late Egyptian tyrannie that a taske was required of them which the Imposers knew they could not performe to make Bricke when they had no Straw Yet they say to Moses What shall we drinke Themselues are growne Exactors and are ready to menace more then stripes if they haue not their ends without meanes Moses tooke not vpon him their prouision but their deliuerance and yet as if he had been the common Victualer of the Campe they aske What shall wee drinke When want meets with impatient minds it transports them to fury Euery thing disquiets and nothing satisfies them What course doth Moses now take That which they should haue done and did not They cryed not more feruently to him then he to God If he were their Leader God was his That which they vniustly required of him he iustly requires of God that could doe it He knew whence to looke for redresse of all complaints this was not his charge but his Makers which was able to maintaine his owne act I see and acknowledge the harbour that wee must put into in all our ill vveather It is to thee O God that wee must powre out our hearts which onely canst make our bitter waters sweet Might not that Rod which tooke away the liquid nature from the waters and made them solid haue also taken away the bitter qualitie from these waters and made them sweet since to flow is naturall vnto the water to bee bitter is but accidentall Moses durst not imploy his Rod without a Precept he knew the power came from the Commandement We may not presume on likelihoods but depend vpon warrants therefore Moses doth not lift vp his Rod to the Waters but his hand and voice to God The hand of faith neuer knocked at heauen in vaine No sooner hath Moses shewed his grieuance then God shewes him the remedie yet an vnlikely one that it might be miraculous He that made the waters could haue giuen them any sauour How easie is it for him that made the matter to alter the qualitie It is not more hard to take away then to giue Who doubts but the same hand that created them might haue immediately changed them Yet that Almightie power will doe it by meanes A piece of wood must sweeten the waters
and simple to confound the wise and mighty Yet God did this worke by Moses Moses hewed and God wrote Our true Moses repaires that Law of God which we in our nature had broken He reuiues it for vs and it is accepted of God no lesse then iâ— the first Characters of his Law had been still entyre We can giue nothing but the Table it is God that must write in it Our hearts are but a bare boord till God by his finger ingraue his Law in them Yea Lord we are a rough Quarry hew thou vs out and square vs fit for thee to write vpon Well may wee maruell to see Moses after this ouersight admitted to this charge againe Who of vs would not haue said Your care indeed deserues trust you did so carefully keepe the first Tables that it would doe well to trust you with such another burden It was good for Moses that hee had to doe with God not with men The God of mercy will not impute the slips of our infirmitie to the preiudice of our faithfulnesse He that after the misse-answer of the one Talent would not trust the euill seruant with a second because he saw a wilfull neglect will trust Moses with his second Law because he saw fidelitie in the worst error of his zeale Our charity must learne as to forgiue so to beleeue where we haue beene deceiued Not that wee should wilfully beguile our selues in an vniust credulitie but that we should search diligently into the disposition of persons and grounds of their actions perhaps none may bee so sure as they that haue once disappointed vs. Yea Moses brake the first therefore hee must hew the second If God had broken them he would haue repayred them The amends must be where the fault was Both God and his Church looke for a satisfaction in that wherein we haue offended It was not long since Moses his former fast of forty dayes When hee then came downe from the hill his first question was not for meat and now going vp againe to Sinai he takes not any repast with him That God which sent the Quailes to the Host of Israel and Manna from Heauen could haue fed him with dainties He goes vp confidently in a secure trust of Gods prouision There is no life to that of faith Man liues not by bread onely The Vision of God did not onely satiate but feast him What a blessed satiety shall there be when we shall see him as he is and he shall be all in all to vs since this very fraile mortality of Moses was sustained and comforted but with representations of his presence I see Moses the Receiuer of the Law Elias the Restorer of the Law Christ the fulfiller of the old Law and Author of the new all fasting forty daies and these three great fasters I find together glorious in mount Tabor Abstinence merits not For Religion consists not in the belly either full or empty What are meates or drinkes to the Kingdome of God which is like himselfe spirituall But it prepares best for good duties Full bellies are fitter for rest not the body so much as the soule is more actiue with emptinesse Hence solemne prayer takes euer fasting to attend it and so much the rather speeds in Heauen when it is so accompanied It is good so to dyet the body that the soule may be fatned When Moses came downe before his eyes sparkled with anger and his face was both interchangeably pale and red with indignation now it is bright with glory Before there were the flames of fury in it now the beames of Maiesty Moses had before spoken with God why did not his face shine before I cannot lay the cause vpon the inward trouble of his passions for this brightnesse was externall Whither shall wee impute it but to his more intyrenesse with God The more familiar acquaintance wee haue with God the more doe wee partake of him He that passes by the fire may haue some gleames of heat but he that stands by it hath his colour changed It is not possible a man should haue any long conference with God and be no whit affected Wee are strangers from God it is no wonder if our faces be earthly but he that sets himselfe apart to God shall finde a kind of Maiestie and awfull respect put vpon him in the mindes of others How did the heart of Moses shine with illumination when his face was thus lightsome And if the flesh of Moses in this base composition so shined by conuersing with God forty dayes in Sinai What shall our glory bee when clothed with incorruptible bodies we shall conuerse with him in the highest Heauens Now his face onely shone afterwards the three Disciples saw all his body shining The nature of a glorified body the clearer Vision the immediate presence of that fountaine of glory challenge a far greater resplendence to our faces then his O God we are content that our faces bee blemished a while with contempt and blubred with teares how can wee but shine with Moses when wee shall see thee more then Moses The brightnesse of Moseses face reflected not vpon his owne eyes He shone bright and knew not of it He saw Gods face glorious he did not thinke others had so seene his How many haue excellent graces and perceiue them not Our owne sense is an ill iudge of Gods fauours to vs Those that stand by can conuince vs in that which we deny to ourselues Here below it is enough if we can shine in the eies of others aboue we shall shine and know it At this instant Moses sees himselfe shine then he needed not God meant not that hee should more esteeme himselfe but that he should bee more honoured of the Israelites That other glory shall bee for our owne happinesse and therefore requires our knowledge They that did but stand still to see anger in his face ranne away to see glory in it Before they had desired that God would not speake to them any more but by Moses and now that God doth but looke vpon them in Moses they are afraid and yet there was not more difference betwixt the voyces then the faces of God and Moses This should haue drawne Israel to Moses so much the more to haue seene this impression of Diuinity in his face That which should haue comforted affrights them Yea Aaron himselfe that before went vp into the Mount to see and speake with God now is afraid to see him that had seene God Such a feare there is in guiltinesse such confidence in innocencie When the soule is once cleared from sin it shall run to that glory with ioy the least glimpse whereof now appales it and sends it away in terror How could the Israelites now chuse but thinke How shall wee abide to looke God in the face since our eyes are dazeled with the face of Moses And well may we still argue If the Image of God which he hath set in the
friuolous Emulation is curious and out of the best person or act will raise something to cauill at Seditions doe not euer looke the same way they moue Wise men can easily distinguish betwixt the visor of actions and the face The wife of Moses is mentioned his superiority is shot at Pride is lightly the ground of all sedition Which of their faces shined like Moses Yea let him but haue drawne his vaile which of them durst looke on his face Which of them had fasted twice forty dayes Which of them ascended vp to the top of Sinai and was hid with smoke and fire Which of them receiued the Law twice in two seuerall Tables from Gods owne hand And yet they dare say Hath God spoken only by Moses They do not deny Moses his honour but they challenge a part with him and as they were the elder in nature so they would bee equall in dignitie equall in administration According to her name Miriam would bee exalted And yet how vnfit were they One a woman whom her sex debarred from rule the other a Priest whom his office sequestred from earthly gouernment Selfe-loue makes men vnreasonable and teaches them to turne the glasse to see themselues bigger others lesse then they are It is an hard thing for a man willingly and gladly to see his equals lifted ouer his head in worth and opinion Nothing will more try a mans grace then questions of emulation That man hath true light which can bee content to be a candle before the Sunne of others As no wrong can escape God so least of all those which are offered to Princes Hee that made the care needs no intelligence of our tongues We haue to doe with a God that is light of hearing we cannot whisper any euill so secretly that hee should not cry out of noise and what need we any further euidence when our Iudge is our witnesse Without any delation of Moses God heares and challenges them Because hee was meeke therefore he complained not Because hee was meeke and complained not therefore the Lord struck in for him the more The lesse a man striues for himselfe the more is God his Champion It is the honour of great persons to vndertake the patronage of their Clients How much more will God reuenge his Elect which cry to him day and night He that said I seeke not mine owne glory addes But there is one that seekes it and iudges God takes his part ouer that sights not for himselfe No man could haue giuen more proofes of his courage then Moses Hee slue the Egyptian He confronted Pharaoh in his owne Court Hee beat the Midianite shepheards He feared not the troopes of Egypt He durst looke God in the face amidst all the terrors of Sinai and yet that spirit which made and knew his heart sayes Hee was the mildest man vpon earth Mildnesse and Fortitude may well lodge together in one brest to correct the misconceits of those men that thinke none valiant but those that are fierce and cruell No sooner is the word out of Miriams mouth then the Word of Gods reproofe meets it How he bestirs him and will be at once seene and heard when the name of Moses is in question Moses was zealously carefull for Gods glory and now God is zealous for his The remunerations of the Almightie are infinitely gracious He cannot want honour and patronage that seekes the honour of his Maker The ready way to true glory is goodnesse God might haue spoken so lowd that Heauen and Earth should haue heard it so as they should not haue needed to come forth for audience but now hee cals them out to the barre that they may be seene to heare It did not content him to chide them within doores the shame of their fault had beene lesse in a priuate rebuke but the scandall of their repining was publike Where the sinne is not afraid of the light God loues not the reproofe should be smothered They had depressed Moses God aduances him They had equalled them to Moses God prefers him to them Their plea was that God had spoken by them as well as Moses Gods reply is That hee hath in a more entire fashion spoken to Moses then them God spake to the best of them but either in their dreame sleeping or in vision waking But to Moses he spake with more inward illumination with more liuely representation To others as a stranger to Moses as a friend God had neuer so much magnified Moses to them but for their enuy We cannot deuise to pleasure Gods seruants so much as by despighting them God was angry when he chode them but more angry when he departed The withdrawing of his presence is the presence of his wrath Whiles hee stayes to reproue there is fauour in his displeasure but when he leaues either man or Church there is no hope but of vengeance The finall absence of God is hell it selfe When he forsakes vs though for a time it is an introduction to his vtmost iudgement It was time to looke for a iudgement when God departed so soone as he is gone from the eyes of Miriam the leprosie appeares in her face her foule tongue is punished with a foule face Since she would acknowledge no difference betwixt her selfe and her brother Moses euery Israelite now sees his face glorious here leprous Deformitie is a fit cure of Pride Because the venome of her tongue would haue eaten into the reputation of her brother therefore a poisonous infection eates into her flesh Now both Moses Miriam need to weare a vayle the one to hide his glory the other her deformitie That Midianite Zapparah whom she scorned was beautifull in respect of her Miriam was striken Aaron escaped both sinned his Priesthood could not rescue him the greatnesse of his dignity did but adde to the haynousnesse of his sinne his repentance freed him Alasse my Lord I beseech thee lay not this sinne vpon vs which we haue foolishly committed I wonder not to see Aaron free while I see him penitent This very confession saued him before from bleeding for Idolatry which now preserues him from Leprosie for his enuious repining The vniuersall Antidote for all the iudgements of God is our humble repentance Yea his sad deprecation preuailed both to cleare himselfe and recouer Miriam The brother sues for himselfe and his sister to that brother whom they both emulated for pardon from himselfe and that God which was offended in him Where now is that equality which was pretended Behold hee that so lately made his brother his fellow now makes him his God Lay not this sinne vpon vs Let her not bee as one dead As if Moses had imposed this plague and could remoue it Neuer any opposed the seruants of God but one time or other they haue beene constrained to confesse a superiority Miriam would haue wounded Moses with her tongue Moses would heale her with his O Lord heale her now The wrong is the greater because
The two sons of Elimelech are swept away childlesse in the prime of their age and in stead of their seede they leaue their carcasses in Moab their wiues widdowes their mother childlesse and helplesse amongst Infidels in that age which most needed comfort How miserable doe wee now finde poore Naomi which is left destitute of her country her husband her children her friends and turned loose and solitary to the mercy of the world yet euen out of these hopeles ruins will God raise cōfort to his seruant The first good newes is that God hath visited his people with bread now therefore since her husband and sonnes were vnrecouerable she will try to recouer her countrey and kinred If we can haue the same conditions in Iudah that we haue in Moab we are no Israelites if wee returne not Whiles her husband and sonnes liued I heare no motion of retiring home now these her earthly stayes are remoued she thinks presently of remouing to her countrey Neither can we so heartily thinke of our home aboue whiles we are furnished with these worldly contentments when God strips vs of them straitwaies our minde is homeward Shee that came from Bethleem vnder the protection of an husband attended with her sonnes stored with substance resolues now to measure all that way alone Her aduersity had stript her of all but a good heart that remaines with her and beares vp her head in the deepest of her extremity True Christian fortitude wades thorow all euills and though we be vp to the chin yet keepes firme footing against the streame where this is the sex is not discerned neither is the quantity of the euill read in the face How well doth this courage become Israelites when wee are left comfortlesse in the midst of the Moab of this world to resolue the contempt of all dangers in the way to our home A contrarily nothing doth more mis-beseeme a Christian that his spirits should flagge with his estate and that any difficulty should make him despaire of attaining his best ends Goodnesse is of a winning quality wheresoeuer it is and euen amongst Infidels will make it selfe friends The good disposition of Naomi carries away the hearts of her daughters in law with her so as they are ready to forsake their kinred their countrey yea their owne mother for a stranger whose affinity died with her sonnes Those men are worse then Infidels and next to Diuels that hate the vertues of Gods Saints and could loue their persons well if they were not conscionable How earnestly doe these two daughters of Moab plead for their continuance with Naomi and how hardly is either of them disswaded from partaking of the misery of her society There are good natures euen among Infidels and such as for morall disposition and ciuill respects cannot be exceeded by the best Professors Who can suffer his heart to rest in those qualities which are common to them that are without God Naomi could not be so insensible of her owne good as not to know how much comfort shee might reape to the solitarinesse both of her voyage and her widdow-hood by the society of these two younger widdowes whose affections she had so well tried euen very partnership is a mitigation of euils yet so earnestly doth she disswade them from accompanying her as that shee could not haue said more if shee had thought their presence irkesome and burdenous Good dispositions loue not to pleasure themselues with the disaduantage of others and had rather be miserable alone then to draw in partners to their sorrow for the sight of anothers calamity doth rather double their owne and if themselues were free would affect them with compassion As contrarily ill minds care not how many companions they haue in misery nor how few consorts in good If themselues miscarry they could be content all the world were enwrapped with them in the same distresse I maruell not that Orpah is by this seasonable importunity perswaded to returne from a mother in law to a mother in nature from a toylesome iourney to rest from strangers to her kinred from an hopelesse condition to likelihoods of contentment A little intreaty will serue to moue nature to be good vnto it selfe Euery one is rather a Naomi to his owne soule to perswade it to stay still and inioy the delights of Moab rather then to hazard our entertainement in Bethleem Wil religion allow me this wild liberty of my actions this loose mirth these carnall pleasures Can I be a Christian and not liue sullenly None but a regenerate heart can choose rather to suffer aduersity with Gods people then to enioy the pleasures of sin for a season The one sister takes an vnwilling farewell and moistens her last kisses with many teares the other cannot be driuen backe but repells one intreaty with another Intreat me not to leaue thee for whither thou goest I will go where thou dwellest I wil dwel thy people shall be my people thy God where thou diest I wil die and there wil I be buried Ruth saw so much vpon ten yeeres triall in Naomi as was more worth then all Moah and in comparison whereof all worldly respects deserued nothing but contempt The next degree vnto goodnesse is the loue of goodnesse He is in a faire way to grace that can value it If shee had not been already a proselyte shee could not haue set this price vpon Naomies vertue Loue cannot be separated from a desire of fruition In vaine had Ruth protested her affection to Naomi if shee could haue turned her out to her iourney alone Loue to the Saints doth not more argue our interest in God then society argues the truth of our loue As some tight vessell that holds out against wind and water so did Ruth against all the powers of a mothers perswasions The impossibility of the comfort of marriage in following her which drew back her sister in law cannot moue her She hears her mother like a modest matrone cōtrary to the fashion of these times say I am too old to haue an husband and yet shee thinkes not on the contrary I am too yong to want an husband It should seeme the Moabites had learned this fashion of Israel to expect the brothers raising of seed to the deceased The widowhood age of Naomi cuts off that hope neither could Ruth then dreame of a Boaz that might aduance her It is no loue that cannot make vs willing to be miserable for those we affect The hollowest heart can be content to follow one that prospereth Aduersity is the only fornace of friendship If loue will not abide both fire and anuile it is but counterfeit so in our loue to God we doe but crake and vaunt in vaine if we cannot be willing to suffer for him But if any motiue might hope to speed that which was drawne from example was most likely Behold thy sister in law is gone backe vnto her people and to her gods returne thou after her
helpe of the Physitian this desperate because it needs not Euery soule is sicke those most that feele it not Those that feele it complaine those that complaine haue cure those that feele it not shall finde themselues dying ere they can wish to recouer Oh blessed Physitian by whose stripes we are healed by whose death we liue happy are they that are vnder thy hands sicke as of sinne so of sorrow for sinne it is as vnpossible they should dye as it is vnpossible for thee to want either skill or power or mercy Sinne hath made vs sicke vnto death make thou vs but as sicke of our sinnes we are as safe as thou are gracious Christ among the Gergesens or Legion and the Gaderene Herd I Doe not any where finde so furious a Demoniacke as amongst the Gergesens Satan is most tyrannous where he is obeyed most Christ no sooner sailed ouer the lake then hee was met with two possessed Gadarenes The extreme rage of the one hath drowned the mention of the other Yet in the midst of all that cruelty of the euill spirit there was sometimes a remission if not an intermission of vexation If oft-times Satan caught him then sometimes in the same violence hee caught him not It was no thanke to that malignant one who as he was indefatigable in his executions so vnmeasurable in his malice but to the mercifull ouer-ruling of God who in a gracious respect to the weaknesse of his poore creatures limits the spightfull attempts of that immortall enemie and takes off this Mastiue whiles wee may take breath He who in his iustice giues way to some onsets of Satan in his mercy restraines them so regarding our deseruings that withall he regards our strength If way should be giuen to that malicious spirit we could not subsist no violent thing can endure if Satan might haue his wil we should no moment be free He can be no more weary of doing euil to vs then God is of doing good Are we therefore preserued from the malignitie of these powers of darknesse Blessed be our strong helper that hath not giuen vs ouer to be a prey vnto their teeth Or if some scope haue been giuen to that enuious one to afflict vs hath it been with fauourable limitations it is thine onely mercy O God that hath chained and muzled vp this band-dog so as that hee may scratch vs with his pawes but cannot pierce vs with his fangs Farre farre is this from our deserts who had too well merited a iust abdication from thy fauour and protection and an interminable seisure by Satan both in soule and body Neither doe I here see more matter of thankes to our God for our immunity from the externall iniuries of Satan then occasion of serious inquirie into his power ouer vs for the spirituall I see some that thinke themselues safe from this ghostly tyranny because they sometimes finde themselues in good moods free from the suggestions of grosse sinnes much more from the commission Vaine men that feed themselues with so false and friuolous comforts will they not see Satan through the iust permission of God the same to the soule in mentall possessions that he is to the body in corporall The worst demoniack hath his lightsome respites not euer tortured not euer furious betwixt whiles hee might looke soberly talke sensibly moue regularly It is a wofull comfort that wee sinne not alwayes There is no Master so barbarous as to require of his Slaue a perpetuall vnintermitted toyle yet though hee sometimes eate sleepe rest hee is a vassall still If that wicked one haue drawne vs to a customarie perpetration of euill and haue wrought vs to a frequent iteration of the same sinne this is gage enough for our seruitude matter enough for his tyrannie and insultation He that would be our tormenter alwaies cares onely to be sometimes our Tempter The possessed is bound as with the invisible fetters of Satan so with the materiall chaines of the inhabitants What can bodily force preuaile against a spirit Yet they indeuour this restraint of the man whether out of charitie or iustice Charitie that he might not hurt himselfe Iustice that he might not hurt others None doe so much befriend the Demoniacke as those that binde him Neither may the spiritually possessed be otherwise handled for though this act of the enemie be plausible and to appearance pleasant yet there is more danger in this deare and smiling tyranny Two sorts of chaines are fit for outragious sinners Good lawes vnpartiall executions That they may not hurt that they may not be hurt to eternall death These iron chaines are no sooner fast then broken There was more thâ—n an humane power in this disruption It is not hard to conceiue the vtmost of nature in this kinde of actions Sampson doth not breake the cords and ropes like a threed of towe but God by Sampson The man doth not breake these chaines but the spirit How strong is the arme of these euill angels how farre transcending the ordinarie course of nature They are not called Powers for nothing what flesh and blood could but tremble at the palpable inequalitie of this match if herein the mercifull protection of our God did not the rather magnifie it selfe that so much strength met with so much malice hath not preuailed against vs In spight of both wee are in safe hands Hee that so easily brake the iron fetters can neuer breake the adamantine chaine of our faith In vaine doe the chafing billowes of hell beat vpon that Rocke whereon wee are built And though these brittle chaines of earthly metall bee easily broken by him yet the sure tempered chaine of Gods eternall Decree hee can neuer breake that almightie Arbiter of Heauen and Earth and Hell hath chained him vp in the bottomlesse pit and hath so restrained his malice that but for our good wee cannot be tempted wee cannot be foyled but for a glorious victory Alas it is no otherwise with the spiritually possessed The chaines of restraint are commonly broken by the fury of wickednesse What are the respects of ciuilitie feare of God feare of men wholesome lawes carefull executions to the desperately licentious but as cobwebs to an harnet Let these wilde Demoniacks know that God hath prouided chaines for them that will hold euen euerlasting chaines vnder darknesse these are such as must hold the Deuils themselues their masters vnto the iudgement of the great Day how much more those impotent vassals Oh that men would suffer themselues to be bound to their good behauiour by the sweet and easie recognizances of their duty to their God and the care of their owne soules that so they might rather be bound vp in the bundle of life It was not for rest that these chaines were torne off but for more motion This prisoner runnes away from his friends hee cannot runne away from his Iaylor Hee is now caried into the Wildernesse Not by meere externall force but by
though grieuous yet might be remote therefore for a present hansell of vengeance she is dismissed with the sad tidings of the death of her sonne When thy feet enter into the Citie the child shall dye It is heauy newes for a mother that shee must leese her sonne but worse yet that shee may not see him In these cases of our finall departures our presence giues some mitigation to our griefe might shee but haue closed the eyes and haue receiued the last breath of her dying sonne the losse had bin more tolerable I know not how our personall farewell eases our heart euen whiles it increases our passion but now she shall no more see nor bee seene of her Abijah She shall no sooner be in the City then hee shall bee out of the world Yet more to perfect her sorrow shee heares that in him alone there is found some good the rest of her issue are gracelesse she must leese the good and hold the gracelesse he shall die to afflict her they shall liue to afflict her Yet what a mixture is here of seueritie and fauour in one act fauour to the sonne seueritie to the father Seueritie to the father that hee must leese such a sonne fauour to the sonne that he shall be taken from such a father Ieroboam is wicked and therefore he shall not enioy an Abijah Abijah hath some good things therefore hee shall be remoued from the danger of the deprauation of Ieroboam Sometimes God strikes in fauour but more often forbeares out of seueritie The best are fittest for heauen the earth is fittest for the worst this is the region of sinne and misery that of immortalitie It is no argument of dis-fauour to be taken early from a well-led life as not of approbation to age in sinne As the soule of Abijah is fauoured in the remouall so is his body with a buriall he shall haue alone both teares and tombe all the rest of his brethren shall haue no graue but dogs and fowles no sorrow but for their life Though the carkasse be insensible of any position yet honest Sepulture is a blessing It is fit the body should bee duely respected on earth whose soule is glorious in heauen ASA THe two houses of Iuda and Israel grow vp now together in an ambitious riuality this splitted plant branches out so seuerally as if it had forgotten that euer it was ioyned in the root The throne of Dauid oft changeth the possessors and more complaineth of their iniquity then their remoue Abijam inherits the sins of his father Rehoboam no lesse then his Crowne and so spends his three yeares as if had been no whit of kinne to his grandfathers vertues It is no newes that grace is not traduced whiles vice is Therefore is his reigne short because it was wicked It was a sad case when both the Kings of Iudah and Israel though enemies yet conspired in sinne Rehoboam like his father Salomon began graciously but fell to Idolatry as he followed his father so his sonne so his people followed him Oh what a face of a Church was here when Israel worshipped Ieroboams calues when Iudah built them high places and Images and groues on euery high Hill and vnder euery greene tree On both hands GOD is forsaken his Temple neglected his worship adulterate and this not for some short brunt but during the succession of two Kings For after the first three yeares Rehoboam changed his fathers Religion as his shields from gold to brasse the rest of his seuenteene yeares were ledde in impietie His sonne Abijam trod in the same mierie steps and Iudah with them both If there were any doubtlesse there were some faithfull hearts yet remaining in both Kingdomes during these heauy times what a corrosiue it must needs haue been to them to see so deplored and miserable a deprauation There was no visible Church vpon earth but here and this what a one Oh God how low doest thou sometimes suffer thine owne flocke to bee driuen What wofull wanes and eclipses hast thou ordained for this heauenly body Yet at last an Asa shall arise from the loynes from the graue of Abijam hee shall reâ—iue Dauid and reforme Iudah The gloomie times of corruption shall not last alwayes The light of truth and peace shall at length breake out and blesse the sad hearts of the righteous It is a wonder how Asa should bee good of the seed of Abijam of the soyle of Maachah both wicked both Idolatrous God would haue vs see that grace is from heauen neither needes the helps of these earthly conueyances Should not the children of good parents sometimes be euill and the children of euill parents good vertue would seeme naturall and the giuer would leese his thankes Thus we haue seene a faire flower spring out of dung and a well-fruited tree rise out of a fowre stocke Education hath no lesse power to corrupt then nature It is therefore the iust praise of Asa that being trained vp vnder an Idolatrous Maachah he maintained his piety As contrarily it is a shame for those that haue beene bred vp in the precepts and examples of vertue and godlinesse to fall off to lewnesse or superstition There are foure principall monuments of Asaes vertue as so many rich stones in his Diadem He tooke away Sodomie and Idols out of Iudah Who cannot wonder more that he found them there then that he remoued them What a strange incongruity is this Sodom in Ierusalem Idols in Iudah Surely debauched profession proues desperate Admit the Idols ye cannot doubt of the Sodomy If they haue changed the glory of the vncorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man and to birds and foure-footed beasts and creeping things it is no maruell if God giue them vp to vncleannesse through the lusts of their owne hearts to dishonour their own bodies betweene themselues If they changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and serued the creature more then the Creator who is blessed for euer no maruell if God giue them to vile affections to change the naturall vse into that which is against nature burning in lust one towards another men with men working that which is vnseemely Contrarily admit the Sodomy yee cannot doubt of the Idols Vnnaturall beastlinesse in manners is punished iustly with a sottish dotage in religion bodily pollution with spirituall How should the soule care to bee chaste that keepes a stewes in the body Asa begins with the banishment of both scouring Iudah of this double vncleannesse In vaine should he haue hoped to restore God to his Kingdome whiles these abominations inhabited it It is iustly the maine care of worthy and religious Princes to cleare their Coasts of the foulest sinnes Oh the vnpartiall zeale of Asa There were Idols that challenged a prerogatiue of fauour the Idols that his father had made all these he defaces the name of a father cannot protect an Idoll The duty to his Parent cannot winne him
not distracted with an accident so sudden so sorrowfull she layes her dead childe vpon the Prophets bed shee lockes the doore shee hides her griefe lest that consternation might hinder her designe she hastens to her husband and as not daring to bee other then officious in so distresse-full an occasion acquaints him with her iourney though not with the cause requires of him both attendance and conueyance shee posts to mount Carmel shee cannot so soone finde out the man of God as hee hath found her He sees her afarre off and like a thankfull guest sends his seruant hastily to meet her to inquire of the health of her selfe her husband her childe Her errand was not to Gehezi it was to Elisha no messenger shall interrupt her no eare shall receiue her complaint but the Prophets Downe shee fals passionately at his feet and forgetting the fashion of her bashfull strangenesse layes hold of them whether in an humble veneration of his person or in a feruent desire of satisfaction Gehezi who well knew how vncouth how vnfit this gesture of salutation was for his master offers to remoue her and admonisheth her of her distance The mercifull Prophet easily apprehends that no ordinary occasion could so transport a graue and well-gouerned matrone as therefore pittying her vnknowne passion hee bids Let her alone for her soule is vexed within her and the Lord hath hid it from mee and hath not told mee If extremitie of griefe haue made her vnmannerly wise and holy Elisha knowes how to pardon it Hee dares not adde sorrow to the afflicted hee can better beare an vnseemelinesse in her greeting then cruelty in her molestation Great was the familiaritie that the Prophet had with his God and as friends are wont mutually to impart their counsels to each other so had the Lord done to him Elisha was not idle on mount Carmel What was it that he saw not from thence Not heauen onely but the world was before him yet the Shunamites losse is concealed from him neither doth he shame to confesse it Oft-times those that know greater matters may yet bee ignorant of the lesse It is no disparagement to any finite creature not to know something By her mouth will God tell the Prophet what by vision hee had not Then she said Did I desire a sonne of my Lord Did I not say doe not deceiue me Deepe sorrow is sparing of words The expostulation could not be more short more quicke more pithy Had I begged a son perhaps my importunity might haue been yeelded to in anger Too much desire is iustly punished with losse It is no maruell if what we wring from God prosper not This fauour to mee was of thine owne motion Thy suit O Elisha made me a mother Couldst thou intend to torment me with a blessing How much more easie had the want of a sonne been then the mis-cariage Barrennesse then orbation Was there no other end of my hauing a son then that I might lose him O man of God let mee not complaine of a cruel kindnesse thy prayers gaue me a son let thy prayers restore him let not my dutifull respects to thee bee repaid with an aggrauation of misery giue not thine hand-maid cause to wish that I were but so vnhapy as thou foundest me Oh wofull fruitfulnesse if I must now say that I had a sonne I know not whether the mother or the Prophet were more afflicted the Prophet for the mothers sake or the mother for her owne Not a word of reply doe wee heare from the mouth of Elisha his breath is onely spent in the remedy Hee sends his seruant with all speed to lay his staffe vpon the face of the childe charging him to auoyd all the delayes of the way Had not the Prophet supposed that staffe of his able to beat away death why did hee send it and if vpon that supposition hee sent it how was it that it failed of effect was this act done out of humane conceit not out of instinct from God Or did the want of the mothers faith hinder the successe of that cure She not regarding the staffe or the man holds fast to Elisha No hopes of his message can loose her fingers As the Lord liueth and as thy soule liueth I will not leaue thee She imagined that the seruant the staffe might bee seuered from Elisha she knew that where euer the Prophet was there was power It is good relying vpon those helpes that cannot faile vs. Merit and importunity haue drawne Elisha from Carmel to Shunem Hee findes his lodging taken vp by that pale carkeise hee shuts his doore and fals to his prayers this staffe of his what euer became of the other was long enough hee knew to reach vp to Heauen to knocke at those gates yea to wrench them open Hee applies his body to those cold and senselesse limbs By the feruour of his soule hee reduces that soule by the heat of his body he educeth warmth out of that corps The childe neeseth seuen times as if his spirit had beene but hid for the time not departed it fals to worke a fresh the eyes looke vp the lippes and hands moue The mother is called in to receiue a new life in her twice-giuen sonne she comes in full of ioy full of wonder and bowes her selfe to the ground and fals downe before those feet which shee had so boldly layd hold of in Carmel Oh strong faith of the Shunamite that could not be discouraged with the seizure and continuance of death raising vp her heart still to an expectation of that life which to the eyes of nature had beene impossible irreuocable Oh infinite goodnesse of the Almightie that would not suffer such faith to be frustrate that would rather reuerse the lawes of nature in returning a guest from heauen and raising a corps from death then the confidence of a beleeuing heart should be disappointed How true an heire is Elisha of his master not in his graces onely but in his actions Both of them diuided the waters of Iordan the one as his last act the other as his first Elijahs curse was the death of the Captaines and their troupes Elishaes curse was the death of the children Elijah rebuked Ahab to his face Elisha Iehoram Elijah supplied the drought of Israel by raine from heauen Elisha supplied the drought of the three Kings by waters gushing out of the earth Elijah increased the oyle of the Sareptan Elisha increased the oyle of the Prophets widow Elijah raised from death the Sareptans son Elisha the Shunamites Both of them had one mantle one spirit both of them climbed vp one Carmel one heauen ELISHA with NAAMAN OF the full showers of grace which fell vpon Israel and Iudah yet some drops did light vpon their neighbours If Israel bee the worse for her neerenesse to Syria Syria is the better for the vicinity of Israel Amongst the worst of Gods enemies some are singled out for mercy Naaman was a great